18 – 35 year olds across Europe are now watching more sport online than on TV

The internet has surpassed TV as the primary platform for 18 to 35 year-old sports fans to watch their favourite sport, search according to new research conducted for the fourth annual Global Sports Forum Barcelona (GSFB), adiposity 7-9 March, erectile 2012 –www.globalsportsforum.org.

Today’s findings show that 36.1% of this sport hungry demographic across Europe sign-in online to watch their favourite sport or team play on a weekly basis, compared with just 32.1% who do so on television.

It represents a significant shift in the way young people watch sport, after research in 2011, conducted by the Global Sports Forum Barcelona, showed that TV was still the leader for sports video content for this age group.

Advertisers, content providers, broadcasters, rights holders and athletes will all be affected by the changing ways sport is watched.  As a result, it is a topic which will be at the forefront of the debate at the GSFB, as the likes of Claude Ruibal, Head of Sport Content at You Tube,Moz Dee, Programme Director at talkSPORT and Laurent-Eric Le Lay, Chairman & CEO, Eurosport and Eurosport Events, take part in a panel session on “TV vs Web Round #2 for sport.”

Lucien Boyer, President and CEO, Havas Sports & Entertainment and General Commissioner of the Global Sports Forum Barcelona, said:
“These findings, indicating that web consumption of sport content amongst the youth audience has passed TV for the first time, represent an important evolution in consumer behaviour.”

“The implications of this are huge and suggest the broadcast sales model for sport needs to be carefully considered in the future. Whilst TV will clearly continue to remain of enormous importance, the younger generation choose to consume sport in a number of ways so the key now is to be a content provider that can satisfy the demands of sports fans across all platforms.

“I look forward to discussing this in some detail with Claude Ruibal, Head of Sport at YouTube and Chairman & CEO, Eurosport and Eurosport Events, Laurent-Eric Le Lay, at our dedicated session at the Forum on Friday, 9^th March.”

The research was conducted by brand engagement agency, Havas Sports & Entertainment, organizer of the GSFB.  Now in its fourth year, the GSFB continues to attract the sports industry’s leading figures, with more than 1,000 delegates set to attend.  LOCOG Chairman,Sebastien Coe, will be joined by leading brand and rights holder representatives, includingEmmanuel Seugé, Head of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing at The Coca Cola Company, Gary Ream, CEO of the International Skateboard Federation and Thierry Weil, Marketing Director at FIFA.

The Global Sports Forum Barcelona 2012 will take place at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona from 7 – 9 March.  As well as looking at the new trends in sports content consumption, the Forum will also focus on many of the most important topics affecting the industry at the moment, including gambling and corruption; football and finance; and the Globalization of brand sponsors.